BMO move bodes well for city

Economy prompts bank to bring back senior VP role

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 17/7/2013 (1241 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHEN it comes to a symbolic indication of this region’s status as a growing economy, the fact the Bank of Montreal has reestablished a senior vice-president’s office in Winnipeg after close to 15 years without one is a good sign.

John MacAulay, who formerly served as district vice-president for Manitoba and northwestern Ontario for five years, has returned to Winnipeg after three years in Toronto running part of the GTA region for the bank. This time he’s back as senior vice-president of an even larger region that includes Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario. Just as the closure of the banks’ senior v-p offices in Winnipeg at the end of the no-growth ’90s was emblematic of all that was wrong with the local economy, BMO’s return happens when much is looking up here.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

John MacAulay, a senior vice-president with BMO who has returned to Winnipeg, says he’s impressed with the city’s ‘vitality’ since he left three years ago. Purchase Photo Print

"We think it’s all degrees of good," MacAulay said. "It’s a very big investment for us."

“I see more progress made in the last three years than I think I saw in the previous 10 years downtown.”

— BMO senior VP John MacAulay

In his last posting in Winnipeg as vice-president MacAulay reported to BMO’s senior vice-president in Calgary. Now he reports directly to the bank’s president and CEO of personal and commercial banking in Toronto.

"The bank made the decision to make an investment in this region of the country for a number of good reasons," MacAulay said. "We did a lot of analysis and talked to a bunch of customers and clearly there is something happening in the Prairies region."

From his own observations, Mac-Aulay is impressed with the vitality and activity, especially downtown, since he left three years ago.

"I see more progress made in the last three years than I think I saw in the previous 10 years downtown," he said.

In addition to more senior decisionmaking residing here, the bank has also appointed its first vice-president for Winnipeg, Paul Seipp, and a vicepresident for Brandon, Kristen Kennedy.

And as a profitable 136-year-old enterprise — whose grand old Portage and Main branch celebrated its 100th anniversary this year — BMO is upping the ante because it believes there is more business to be had.

"A lot of it has to do with talking to our customers," MacAulay said. "The feedback we got from them is that they are growing. They are expanding their relationship with us. It’s a good time to expand our presence in the region."

Access to capital has always been one of the bugaboos of the local economy. Whether it was a perceived or real detriment to business’s access to bank financing, the closure of those senior vice-president’s offices was certainly a hit to the city’s prestige.

MacAulay said having a more highranking banking presence in town will have a tangible effect.

"For instance, when it comes to commercial credit decisions between myself and our commercial credit manager, the two of us can make decisions on $25 million in an afternoon," he said. "And $25 million represents the vast majority of our customers."

In many cases, timely response to credit requests is as important as the total value of the credit request.

That, and the confidence those decision- makers have boots on the ground and really know what’s going on with their clients.

"Customers like to know the person who is making the decision," MacAulay said.

"Local decisions made by people who live and work in the community. That’s important to our customers."

Winnipeg forecast

In its regional close-up on Winnipeg report released publicly Wednesday, BMO Capital Markets is forecasting continuing steady growth in the Winnipeg economy for 2013.

The Free Press received early access to the report that forecasts more modest GDP growth in Winnipeg in 2013 of 2.0 per cent compared with 2.7 per cent growth in 2012.

The BMO economists continue to tout the province and city’s diversified economy as the key to its success.

“Stability remains one of Manitoba’s key economic strengths, and the city of Winnipeg is no exception,” the report states.

It notes that both the transportation equipment and aerospace sectors are on the rebound after being hard hit in the recession.

Energy and mining is seen as a noteworthy area of growth.

“It kind of snuck up on everyone,” said John MacAulay, the newly appointed Winnipeg-based senior vicepresident. “The oil sector is now a growing component of our economic landscape.”

The report states that after suffering from excess moisture for a couple of years, the agriculture sector is looking good for the first half of the year. It also states the $518-million provincial deficit remains a drag on growth.

History

Updated on Wednesday, July 17, 2013 at 10:07 AM CDT: Corrects that MacAulay is BMO VP in pull quote

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